Editorial

School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Jamia Hamdard (SPER), New Delhi, India organised one-day conference on Phyto-pharmaceuticals held virtually on August 6, 2020. The conference was sponsored by All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi. The event was jointly organized in association with Society of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Delhi Branch. The event was supported by AIMIL Pharmaceuticals India Ltd., Multani Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Spinco Biotech Pvt. Ltd and Anchrom Enterprises, India.

The conference aimed to create awareness related to the research and regulatory aspects of phytopharmaceuticals - a new class of drugs. It provided a platform for interaction of participants with the experts from industry and academia. The potential of medicinal plants and proprietary traditional medicines in the discovery and development of phytopharmaceuticals was explored remained the main stay of the discussions.

Broadly following topics relating the discovery and development were discussed:

a)	Medicinal plants and natural product research - potential and challenges
b)	Evidence-based traditional drugs and phytopharmaceutical research
c)	Advances in drug discovery in phytotherapy
d)	Quality control and efficacy assessment of phytopharmaceuticals
e)	Intellectual Property Rights, regulatory and marketing challenges related to phytopharmaceuticals

About 450 registration requests were received on the conference portal. Out of these about 300 participants were selected for the same. A total of 279 delegates participated in the e-Conference. It included 122 participant from Delhi, 130 participants from other parts of India and 27 international participants. The delegates were from colleges, universities, research institutes, industries and regulating agencies. The scientific deliberations included lectures by invited speakers and selected paper presentations by participants.

The conference started by a welcome address by the Organizing Secretary, Dr. Showkat R. Mir. It was followed by the inaugural address by Prof. Mohd Amir, Dean, SPER. He emphasized the importance of concerted and cohered research efforts that can lead to success in the discovery and development of phytopharmaceuticals.

Prof. Vidhu Aeri, Professor of Pharmacognosy at SPER and Chairperson of the Indian Pharmacopeia Commission subcommittee on phytopharmaceuticals presented insights on the concept, regulations, opportunities and the way forward in the development of phytopharmaceuticals from medicinal plants. Dr. Upendra Sharma, Senior Scientist, Natural Product Chemistry and Process Development Division, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur delivered a talk on the role of Himalayan medicinal plants in the discovery of bioactive molecules. Dr. Onkar Singh, Senior Research Manager at Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Gurugram shared his experience with the participants. He is associated with the Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacokinetic studies of new drug molecules for more than 15 years. He highlighted the role of bio-analytical techniques in establishing the bioavailability and bioequivalence of new drugs. Dr. Sanchit Sharma, Executive Director, AIMIL Pharmaceuticals (India) Ltd provided the industry perspective on the research and development of phyto-therapeutic personal care products. The conference ended on a vote of thanks presented by Dr. Saima Amin, Joint Secretary of the conference.

More than 50 abstracts were selected after exhaustive screening by the scientific committee. I sincerely acknowledge the support of Science International for accepting to publish the conference proceedings in the current issue of Research Journal of Phytochemistry. I am thankful to Dr. Saima Amin and Dr. Javed Ahamad for their untiring support throughout the conference and co-editing the current issue.